Flexible door



( No Model.)

H. N. H. LUGRIN.`

FLEXIBLE DOOR.

No. 461,885. Patented ont. 27, 1891."

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

I-IORATIO N. Il. LUGRIN, OF VORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR, BY DIRECT AND MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, TO THE LUGRIN FLEXIBLE DOOR COMPANY, OF PORTLAND, MAINE.

FLEXIBLE DOOR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 461,885, dated October 2*?, 1891.

' Application tiled January 5, 1891. Serial No. 376,802. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern;

Be it known that I, HoRA'rIo N. H. LUGRIN, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Vorcester, in the county of NVorcester and 5 State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Flexible Doors, of 'which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings,formingapartofthesame,andinwhich- Figure l represents an elevation of one of my improved doors, the casing at the top and one side having been removed in order to disclose the operating mechanism; and Fig. 2 represents the helical drum upon which the t 5 door is wound, showing a portion of the door in sectional View as being wound thereon.

Similar letters refer to similar parts in the different gures.

My invention relates to certain improve- 2o ments in those iiexible doors which are designed to be moved horizontally and wound upon a vertical roll or drum at the side of the door-opening; and it consists in the construction and arrangement of the several parts by which the door is operated in opening and closing. l

Referring to the drawings, A denotes the body of the flexible door, which may be made of canvas covered with parallel wooden bars, 3o or of Wooden bars hinged together at their edges, or of any known method of construction.

B denotes a vertical shaft journaled in bearings within a pocket at the side of the 3 5 door-opening. Attached to the vertical shaft B is a disk C, provided with a hub C and a helical drum D, with the diameter at D upon which the first coil of the door is wound, of the same diameter as the hub C. The door A is 4o attached at` one edge to the step D of the helical drum D and also to the hub C', and the upper edge A of the door A is at an oblique angle with the winding-shaft B. The oblique edge A corresponds with the pitch of the spiral step upon the helical drum D. Immediately above the helical drum D, I attach to the shaft'B a second helical drum E, around which is wound the cord F, having one end attached to the larger end of the helicaldrum E audits opposite end connected with the up- 5o per end of the stile G, the cord F passing over a small pulley H in order to change the direction of its motion.

In Fig. l the door A is represented as nearly closed, and in order to open the same the stile G is moved toward the right, thereby drawing the cordF off from the helical drum E and causing the vertical shaft B to be rotated, causing the doorA to be wound upon the helical drum D. The helical drums D and E are made to exactly correspond-that is, the diameter of that portion of the helical drum D upon which the door Ais being wound exactly corresponds with the diameter of the helical drum E, from which the cord F is being unwound at the Sametime. This correspondence in the pitch of the two drums D and E causes the winding of the door and the unwinding of the cord while the door is being opened and the unwinding of the door and the winding of the cord while the door is being closed to proceed with equal speed. By this conjoint action of the two helical drums D and E, attached to the same shaft and having therefore the same angular movement, the flexible door A and the cord F are kept4 taut and the parallel bars forming the body of the door A are made to wind tightly upon the spiral surface of the helical drum D, and as the steps a c of the helical drum D are greater than the thickness of the bars forming the door A each successive coil of the door is wound upon a smooth surface of uniformlyincreasing curvature.

Vhat I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a exible door, the combination of a rotating shaft, a helical drum attached to said shaft, a flexible curtain or shutter with one end attached to said drum, a second helical drum attached to said shaft, a cord With-one end attached to said second helical drum,with its opposite end attached to the free end `of the curtain or. shutter, and a pulley over which said cord is carried to change its direction, said helical drums corresponding in diameter and pitch, substantially as described.

2. In a flexible door, the combination of a rotating shaft, a helical drum attached to said shaft, a flexible curtain or shutter attached at one edge to the smaller end of said helical druin,said curtain having an oblique edge corresponding with the pitch of said helical druni, a second helical drurn attached to said shaft, a cord attached to one end of said helical drum and at the other end to the free edge ot' said curtain or shutter, and a pulley by which the direction of said cord is changed, said helical drums corresponding in diameter and pitch, substantially as described.

3. In a liexible door, the combination of a Vertical rotating shaft, a helical drum attached to said shaft, a flexible curtain or shutter with one edge attached to said helical drum, a horizontal disk attached to said shaft upon which the lower edge of said curtain or shutter rests as it is Wound around said shaft and by which the upper edge of said curtain is held in contact with said helical drum, a second helical a pulley over which said cord passes in order to change its direction, substantially as de-v scribed.

Dated the lst day of January, 1891.v

HORATIO N. H. LUGRIN.

Witnesses.:

RUFUS B. FOWLER,

FREDERICK E. PoLLARD. 

